Make In India can be China’s answer to its rising labour costs

Pune, 30 October 2018: Amid global trade arena where China is recognised as the ‘factory of the world’ and India ‘the back office of the world,’ the two countries can strive to come together to maximise mutual benefit by leveraging their own strengths, speakers at the seventh China India Forum said on Saturday. The countries can explore opportunities in multiple areas such as infrastructure, high technology, engineering, education, entertainment, tourism, healthcare and agriculture, the speakers stressed.As many as Five Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth 100 million USD to create relationships between Chinese and Indian businesses were signed in the inaugural session of the Forum, based on theme “Jointly shoulder responsibility of our times, promote global growth.”

Government of Maharashtra is the partner state of the Forum while International Business Linkages Forum (IBLF) and China’s Fortune Plus are its joint organisers with Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture as Supporting Partner. The Forum was organised with the co-operation of Chinese Peoples’ Association for Friendship With Foreign Countries(CPAFFC), China India Friendship Association(CIFA) and Podar Enterprise.

Maharashtra Minister fo Tourism Jaykumar Rawal, Mr Rajiv Podar, Managing Director of Podar Enterprise, MCCIA President Pradeep Bhargava, IBLF President Dinesh Joshi, Li Baijun, Economic and Commercial Counsillor in the Embassy of China in India, Wang Huiyong, Vice President of Hebei Province People’s Congress, Jiang Zelin, President of Jilin Province People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Lin Yi, vice president of CPAFFC were present on the occasion.

Mr Rawal said the two countries have a close bond as among oldest cultures of the World and business professionals from a variety of fields in both the countries have made their mark on the world scene. China’s engagement in the Make in India initiative will benefit businesses of both the countries, Mr Rawal said adding that technology, infrastructure, smart cities, tourism are among areas for co-operation for the two countries.

Mr Podar said that, apart from regular investments in Infrastructure, Railway, Smart Cities, Metro, Pharmaceuticals new avenues such as Research, Tourism, Culture, Film Production, Start Ups, Waste Management, Education, Retail and Healthcare offer huge potential.
As the labour costs in China are on the rise it will make business sense to offshore manufacturing to India which has a vast resource of skilled and semi skilled manpower, Mr. Podar said.

Mr Podar said the India-China bilateral trade of $ 84 billion (2017) contains $ 10 billion worth of Indian exports to China and there is scope to increase India’s contribution by engaging in newer trade areas. The U.S. Government’s ban on certain exports to China itself will create sizeable business opportunity for Indian exporters, he said, adding that India has already begun exporting non-Basmati rice to China. He said that two of the MoUs signed in the previous China India Forum are close to becoming a real business relationship.

Mr Bhargava said the Forum is an opportunity to expand the relations between the two countries and the time to begin the process is now. He dwelled upon the strengths of Pune as an investment destination as the city offers specialised skilled manpower across sectors.

Mr Li Bajun said the bilateral trade between India and China has shown a 15 per cent growth in the year so far and is fast moving to touch the $90 billion level. In addition to commodities such as non-Basmati rice to China India can hope to add medicines to its basket of exports to China.